Manufacturing Process Selection Handbook

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Handbook

1.1 The Economic Case for Manufacturing Process Selection

A productive manufacturing engineering sector comes from making the best use of our manufacturing processes – understanding and utilising their technological capabilities and the economic opportunities they can offer. If we can get the quality and cost of our products right for our customers, then our businesses will reap the financial rewards. It is often thought that selecting manufacturing processes for making our products is the responsibility of the production people. In reality, this can be highly influenced by design – the processes used can be largely predetermined by the design alternative selected: choice of materials, sizes, shapes, finishes ...